July 12

Doug Allison (1846)

Lee Meadows (1894)

Johnny Wyrostek (1919)

Jack Harshmann (1927)

Ron Fairly (1938)

Tom Tischinski (1944)

Scipio Spinks (1947)

Mario Soto (1956)

Mike Munoz (1965)

Adam Johnson (1979)

Phil Dumatrait (1981)

Tom Gorzelanny (1982)

Howie Kendrick (1983)

Catcher Thomas Arthur Tischinski was a reserve catcher for the Twins for three seasons, 1969-1971.  Born and raised in Kansas City, he signed with the Kansas City Athletics as a free agent in 1962.  He was always a weak batter, even in the minors.  His highest average in the minors was .256, in 1958 at AAA Denver, and he had two seasons in which he hit below .200 and another in which he hit .208.  He was taken by Cincinnati in 1962 in the first-year player draft and came to the Twins after the 1967 campaign in the minor league draft.  He came up to the big leagues at the start of the 1969 season and stayed three years.  He was the third catcher each season, backing up Johnny Roseboro and George Mitterwald in 1969, Mitterwald and Paul Ratliff in 1970, and Mitterwald and Phil Roof in 1971.  As a consequence, he didn’t get a lot of playing time.  In his three years in the majors, he got only 116 at-bats.  He hit .181/.294/.224, never batting higher than .196 in any season.  He was back in the minors in 1972.  He moved to the Dodgers’ organization late that season, staying through 1974.  Oddly, his best season as a pro was his last one, when he hit .286 with an OPS of .835 as a part time player for AAA Albuquerque.  At last report, it appeared that Tom Tischinski had returned to the Kansas City area.

Right-hander Adam Bryant Johnson played briefly for the Twins in 2001 and 2003.  He was born in San Jose, went to high school in Encinitas, California, and was drafted by Minnesota with the second pick of the 2000 draft.  He had a very good year in 2000 with Ft. Myers, and did not do badly when promoted higher in the minors the next year.  The Twins, desperate for a fifth starter as they tried to stay in the 2001 pennant race, called Johnson to the majors and put him in the starting rotation.  It did not work.  He made four starts, then three relief appearances, and pitched poorly in all of them.  He never had a good year again.  He struggled for three years in AAA for the Twins, getting a September call-up in 2003, and was released in January of 2005.  He signed with Arizona, was released in spring training, played in the independent Golden Baseball League, and signed with Oakland in mid-August.  The Athletics released him in early June of 2006.  He played in the Atlantic League in 2008, and then his playing career was over.  His major league record is 1-3, 10.25 with a 2.05 WHIP in 26.1 innings.  He made nine appearances, four of them starts.  At last report, Adam Johnson was a firefighter in Lehigh Acres, Florida.

Left-hander Philip Anthony Dumatrait played for the Twins for most of 2011.  Born and raised in Bakersfield, California, he was drafted by Boston in the first round of the 2000 draft.  His numbers in the low minors look quite good, but there was apparently something about him the Red Sox did not like, because he had still not risen higher than Class A when he was traded to Cincinnati at the 2003 deadline with a player to be named later for Scott Williamson.  He missed all of 2004 due to injury, finally got to AA in 2005, and reached AAA in 2006.  He had a fine year in Louisville in 2007 and reached the majors in early August.  He made six poor starts for the Reds, and since he was now 26 Cincinnati put him on waivers.  He was chosen by Pittsburgh and spent his only full year in the majors with the Pirates in 2008.  It did not go well:  both starting and relieving, he went 3-4, 5.26.  He battled injuries again in 2009, making it back to Pittsburgh at the end of the season but again not pitching well.  A free agent after the season, he signed with Detroit for 2010, was sent to AAA, and was released in May, finishing the season in Korea.  He signed with Minnesota for 2011, started the season in Rochester, but came up to the Twins in mid-May and stayed the rest of the season.  Making forty-five appearances out of the bullpen, he went 1-3, 3.92, which doesn’t sound too bad until you note that he had a WHIP of 1.69.  As with every other time he made the majors, control was a problem, as he walked 25 batters in 41.1 innings.  He was again injured at the start of 2012 and apparently decided it wasn’t worth it any more, as he retired at the end of May.  Phil Dumatrait has returned to Bakersfield and gives youth baseball lessons, doing business as the Dumatrait Baseball Academy.